The Glitch
by aniay
Summary: SLASH! Barricade is dispatched to earth with the mission of retrieving information. A glitch in his systems makes completing the mission difficult if not imposible. Cade/Sam. Rating might change to M later.
1. Chapter 1

bDisclaimer:/b Nothing belongs to me, Transformers belongs to hasbro

bA/N:/b A present for lovely blackiesdungeon. I asked for a prompt and this is what I came up with. Beta-red by abraxas Thank you, thank you, thank you. It's not my usuall way of writing, be nice and Feedback is apreciated.

THE GLITCH

Barricade followed Ladiesman217 out of his living area; the human was riding a bicycle and running away from his 'car'.

'Cade sneered at the little yellow vehicle. Autobots were stupid. Driving without a driver was like waving a sign saying 'Hello! Something's wrong.' He, on the other hand, used a very realistic hologram of a policeman sitting behind the wheel.

What was truly lamentable of that Autobot, though, was its inability to recognize the Decepticon in Barricade's alt-form.

iStupid Autojunk!/i

Barricade now followed the boy and the Autobot into a junkyard under highway where old, dysfunctional cars littered the area along with old and dysfunctional humans. All of that mixed together to make the terrain a maze: impossible to drive through in straight line.

He stopped and tracked both of his targets with his sensors. He waited, patiently, wanting to play it in such a way that the boy would be coming to him without Bumblebee's interference. He flipped on the siren a moment and drove toward the boy while the Autobot drove off the other way.

The boy still on the bicycle pedaled into his direction. It seemed the human wanted to stand at his side and he could not allow it. The Decepticon opened his door, forcefully, hitting his prey and dropping him onto the ground. Using his hologram, he aimed his sensors at the boy: his skin was perspiring and radiated fear, a delicious emotion of humans that Barricade liked so much.

Ladiesman217 talked to him, hope filling his eyes, his words frantic and crazed, his heartbeat quickened, pumped by adrenaline.

'Cade wanted to give his prey a bit of hope before crushing it out of him but then the human slammed his hands onto his hood. iThe audacity!/i he boiled inside. The Decepticon charged without second thought.

iHow dare he, a lowly organic creature, hit him!/i

The human fell and the Decepticon charged again.

iA bug, trash...he was stronger, better than any of the humans./i

The Ladiesman217 apologized and begged the vehicle to stop, terrified of it looming above him, driving into him almost running over him. His voice, high with panic, offered what he thought to be the police whatever it wanted in exchange of his life.

Barricade extended his claws through his headlights to look menacing and to raise the human's fear - there was nothing as addicting as a smell of human fear and blood.

And then the human asked the question he was waiting for: "Okay, what do you want?"

'Cade withdrew his claws and then, charging into the boy again, he transformed and literally pinned the human onto the ground. It was not enough because his prey was still strong enough to run. It was pointless, really, to flee from a sixteen foot tall robot but then human in panic were capable of things that defied logic.

He got into pursuit, again, and ran after the boy; as soon as possible he swept him off the ground with an arm.

The boy was airborne and landed with a satisfying thud onto a car's windscreen. If he wanted to play then the Decepticon was more than willing to comply, of course, that meant he just lost the chance to die a fast and painless death.

Now Barricade did not give the human a chance to run. He pinned him onto the hood of the car. He ran his tire saw just beside him.

"Are you Ladiesman217?" He spat at the boy with a demanding voice, angry and excited at the same time.

He was trying to extract the information; normally, he would have been calm and composed. Something about that human boiled his insides: his core twisted with unease and his processor returned a strange error. It said: 'killing target unfeasible'.

Mixing together the bliss of lust fueled by the heady and sweet smell of blood - and the delicious fear coming off of the human - and the inability to strike a blow, the Decepticon's actions faltered just a millisecond and the boy immediately sensed the occasion.

Ladiesman217 rolled and took a leap toward freedom.

Barricade growled with helpless yet consuming anger. He hit the car and flung it away. The human was running free of the garage and he could not allow him to do that. He leaped into pursuit, again, and sensed another human coming into contact with his target.

He was just about to reach both organics when that yellow Camaro Autobot reappeared. In its alt-form it drifted and tripped the scout. The Decepticon's sensors returned multiple low-level errors which were enough to make his optics dim a second. Then, with a reflex worth of a seeker, he rolled and jumped after the runaways, transforming in middle of the air.

The Autobot was driving with humans inside it: idisgusting./i

After a few seconds of pursuit he was already cursing the Autobot; the little yellow slagger was apparently faster than him although there was a moment where he thought he would be able to outrun them.

He could not understand what was wrong with him: every time he sent a query with a killing intent at Ladiesman217 the processor glitched.

:Calm down.: Barricade heard his partner through his comm link.

:Were you eavesdropping on my internal routines?: he snapped.

:I'm your partner.: Frenzy stated calmly. :I need to keep a process on you. What got your wires into a twist? Leave them. Get me and together we'll capture them and extract the information.:

Barricade growled and snarled. He ran Frenzy's suggestion through his processor and decided it might be a good course of action.

:Good thinking. We'll try to separate them. I'll take care of the Bumble bot and you'll pursue the humans. Pinpointing their locations shouldn't be too hard to do.:

:Acknowledged. Your ETA?:

:Five minutes. Barricade out.:

Later Barricade ran a full system check twice and it did not bring up any important problems beyond the need to defragment his memory and clean his cache and repair a few dents along his back. A full recharge would have taken care of it easily. There was nothing about externally applied subroutines, nothing about flaws within his programming or any kind of bug within his systems, nothing that could have explained that annoying error message.

The Decepticon only felt himself get more and more riled up the longer he thought about the human.

Relocating the targets proved to be harder than they expected. They only encountered the bot with the humans again just as the sun set. The glitch prevented 'Cade from doing anything to the human yet he stuck to his prey stubbornly, eventually managing to split the organics and the Cybertronian.

Frenzy scattered off to obtain the information from the humans while Barricade engaged the Autobot.

He must have been distracted - that or the Autobot suddenly got stronger and faster than him - because the stupid mech defeated him.

Yet in the Autobot's haste he did not ensure that the scout was slagged for good. The damage was severe but not lethal. The Decepticon deactivated system by system.

Frenzy sent a message and Barricade heard it while his systems readied into standby: :I've been decapitated but I'm taking a different alt form, it should be hard to sense my energy reading.:

:Good. That yellow bot is glitched, it will not sense you for sure. Follow the humans and send me systematic reports. My systems are off-lining and I might be in standby for quite some time. Barricade out.:

With that he blacked out.

It did not take too long, though, just enough of his systems returned that he left the place where he fought and reached a safer, out of the way location.

Frenzy was informing him about the situation:

:It is raining space junk today: he joked. :I report that Optimus Prime, his SIC, CMO, and Weapon Specialist landed. I'm sending information about their new alt forms:

:I came into contact with the glasses, will try to retrieve them.:

:The humans are being taken by the agency involved with the Ice Man Project.:

And after few hours of waiting, when the sun was high up in the sky, Barricade got the info he and all other Decepticon's were waiting for: :Allspark located; sending coordinates.:

What was even more exciting, though, was that humans kept Megatron within the same exact hiding spot as the Allspark.

The Decepticons mobilized. Starscream, the fastest of all, flew to the Allspark and Megatron. Barricade and others received orders to engage and deal with the Autobots.

The plan had to be changed, however, when the Allspark energy resurfaced. It was moving in the direction of a large human settlement which Barricade decided was the stupidest idea anyone could have thought.

:Frenzy, stop the other humans, they might be trying to get a military support.:

He followed the Allspark, the energy calling to him as his life giver, it was the most enticing aura in the world. He was short of reaching Bumblebee, spurred by the familiar energy, yet again the bot was faster and stronger.

While in pursuit, Barricade encountered a problem, in the form of Optimus Prime who dealt with Bonecrusher already and was free to engage the scout freely.

The Decepticon was not the kind to run from a fight. He faced the Autobot leader with determination and all of his weapons. He was no match for him though.

Barricade was defeated so easily he would have rather gotten slagged than admit it. His armor was dented everywhere. His circuits were slagged. His optics scarcely registered his surroundings. And his processor returned countless errors.

He off-lined with every sensor in his body wishing his spark extinguished; he was ready to die.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you for all reviews, alerts and favs.

albinochilde – I hope this fic will stay exciting :D and thank you!

The Watcher4 – Yes this pairing has Something in it. And Chapter 1 and this was planned as single chapter, so next ones should be longer.(I hope)

Shirox – Here you are, another part… and yes there is to few Sam x Cade stories.

Jewelclaw Lady of Wind – thank you I hope to keep your interest.

Now the second chapter :) ; beta-red by Abraxas. Enjoy!

PART 2

Barricade on-lined to a transfer of pain through his comm link. He screamed as he felt Frenzy dying, his spark sending wave after wave of agony, until at last the signal itself collapsed.

The void of unconsciousness engrossed him again.

The next signal that stirred him awake filled him with a mixture of longing and sadness deeper than even the loss of a friend - it was the Allspark itself dying and his own spark wailed at its loss.

There would be no Allspark anymore; no life source; no hope; no chance of winning this war.

But, in the wake of the Allspark's gasp, Barricade felt his own spark offer up a last bout of strength - a self preservation instinct.

With he transformed and drove away, searching desperately for a place to hide, off-lining, eventually, within a grimy forgotten factory.

His spark did not collapse as he thought; he was not slagged completely. Slowly, oh so slowly, the nanobots of his body worked to repair the damage he suffered. His Energon reserves were tapped into and used at a much faster rate than he expected. But there were hundreds of years yet to live and that was enough time to find another source of energy. Each repair yielded greater and greater pain, enough that his processor kept his mind off-line to spare the agony, instead his memory logged everything that was broken and fixed.

Barricade lay silently in the middle of the warehouse unaware of everything happening around him, unaware that he was kept alive in spite of his wish to die.

Time passed, days then weeks, until his processor switched him off of repair-mode and rebooted him. His systems restarted, sluggish due to drain. His body ached, atrophied because of stasis. Barricade awoke painfully aware he was still broken.

His chronometer informed him of how much time elapsed and he was not happy about it. Accessing his processor logs, he realized that while he was alive, almost every other Decepticon on the face of this planet was dead. After analyzing the signals more closely, he thought that maybe Starscream, the great coward, was able to save his neck but then there was no Megatron anymore, no Blackout, no Devastator... nor any other Decepticon that had been there when he off-lined.

He was not an Autobot therefore he would not mourn his comrades. He understood it as what it was: a reason to reevaluate the situation, to change priorities. The world changed. The Autobots. And the Allspark was no more.

Carefully, he drove out of the warehouse, scanning his surrounding with precision, trying to find a new alt mode. Something with which it would be easier to blend into the human population but that was still elegant and fast. Then he planned to go to a place where he thought he might find out what happened, to the accommodation of Ladiesman217.

Finding an alt mode proved much easier than he expected; driving beside the car dealer he found a car which was both sleek and luxurious and in a perfect matt black color.

He scanned the beauty and transformed into it as soon as possible, getting rid of the police numbers, the white encryption of 'to punish and enslave...' but still keeping the police radio scanner, which surely was more than useful.

If Barricade was not aching in so many places he would have tested the speed of his new alt form and reached his destination much, much faster; instead he enjoyed his ride, basking in the feeling of the sun warming his roof.

He scanned the World Wide Web lazily, searching about the Mission City incident, encountering only unreliable information - the government apparently trying its best to cover up the battle.

He wished Frenzy was beside him, that would have helped him immensely, his little cassette friend could have hacked the Autobot frequency and downloaded the information straight into his memory. Unfortunately, Frenzy was slagged and Barricade lacked the ability to hack highly encrypted transmissions. He was going to learn what happened the hard way.

The ex Decepticon settled in Tranquility, in the parking lot of the mall three blocks away from the boy's accommodation. It was far enough to not be spotted by a wayward Autobot yet close enough to be able to monitor the human and everything that happened around him. So Barricade stayed, waiting, watching, listening, for anything that might be useful.

What was obvious only after few days of spying was that the yellow Autobot stayed with the boy and that the human's female cohort became what they called a girlfriend. Another fact that Barricade learned was that Sam Witwicky, as that was the human's proper designation, was the one to do both: kill Megatron and destroy the Allspark. It was hard to believe yet it was true and the fact filled Barricade with a kind of begrudging respect toward the boy for his inventiveness and for his courage.

There had been many mechs who tried to get kill Megatron but nobody ever succeeded.

Again time passed, weeks turned into months, and Barricade remained there watching Sam, his family, his assortment of Autobots allies, who often appeared in the vicinity of the boy. Every now and then he changed his location as his presence in the same exact spot for too long would have become suspicious. The wandering about developed into a habit of the scout.

The way he uncovered the truth about the battle came with a strange and unexpected consequence. He began to learn about the boy and the rest of the humans overall. Boredom and ample free time gave him the ability to research the organics more deeply and more thoroughly than probably any other Cybertronian.

It was about half a year after the Mission City battle that something started to happen again. There were sightings of meteorites all over the world and Barricade was sure that those were not just rocks from space; those were Cybertronians reaching earth, some of them being Autobots but most of them being Decepticon.

Bumblebee - the yellow Autobot - always got as excited as a puppy whenever another Autobot arrived. And it angered Barricade that somewhere without notice he started to use informal human language to describe things. The human culture was rubbing off on him to the point where he considered making his hologram unique and material enough to be able to interact with the organics.

Now every time there was a sighting and Bumble bot did not jump with joy he knew a Decepticon arrived. Barricade was sure that where soldiers were gathering a higher ranking officer would be arrive shortly. He expected Starscream but then to his shock, after months of silence, the Decepticon communication network flared to life with Soundwave's transmission signature. Of course stupid Starscream, who still appeared to retain a little authority over communication officers and other soldiers, did not think about changing the coding key.

He could not help but lap at the information coming through about almost everything. It filled the holes within what he learned.... His processor was going into overdrive with the pleasure of hearing his comrades. A year, being really nothing but a blink of an eye for a Cybertronian, felt on this planet much longer and much lonelier than it would have been otherwise.

Barricade was so engrossed with the flurry of communication that he almost missed the small but significant development that Sam was leaving Tranquility to extend his schooling. Though, as soon as he realized what it meant, he uncovered the information he wanted to know about where Sam was going. Hacking low-level computer systems, even for him, was as easy as drinking Energon. And he decided to use that knowledge for his own personal advantage.

It was, however, hard to stand by his resolve to keep away from the Decepticons. Especially when he felt Soundwave nearby just in orbit. For eons the communications officer was what he would have called a friend in human language. They were so close that Soundwave was not against Frenzy going to earth with Barricade. But now Barricade was dead for Decepticons and dead for Autobots. He could not go back. That part of his life was ended. He had been neutral once and now he wanted to be so again - especially when it seemed the Fallen was getting into the equation.

The reemergence of the oldest Cybertronian in the universe caught him by surprise. It was a worse threat than all of Decepticon Army together. The Fallen was almost unstoppable; almost, because Optimus Prime, as a bearer of the Prime title, might have a chance to defeat him.

For the first time in a long time, indeed the first time he remembered, he wished Optimus Prime good luck.

The idiot, Screamer, did not understand the ruthlessness of the Fallen. The SIC believed the Fallen would have just allowed everything to be as it was, Barricade knew better than that, though. The Fallen would not stop until they were all slaves, servants - worse - cannon fodder. And if they succeeded with the resurrection of Megatron then their leader would never be the same, the Fallen would make sure of that.

The day Sam was leaving to college it seemed that all hell broke loose.

Barricade observed the situation remotely. The human was distressed and excited. Everything was going flawlessly, as normally as it could be, until all of a sudden his sensors picked up a familiar energy reading. Then he was blinded by a burst of that energy - he went deaf and blind a few short seconds - and when he came to he sensed a couple of changes. First, the boy's body was thrumming with adrenaline. Second, there were a few rough Cybertronian life forms, sparkless little drones, but the boy seemed endangered by them.

He felt a surprising almost alien urge to run to Sam. To destroy the threat. Help him. Save him. He could not understand where the drive came from only that his processor screamed at him to start moving....

Barricade paused, shocked by the realization, he wondered when did the lack of ability or intent to kill the boy became this thirst for protecting him?

Was it another glitch?

The little sparkless dots on his radar were being terminated, probably by Sam's guardian, and his processor calmed.

He ran another system check - everything was normal yet it was not and he knew he had to be much more careful.

The human was unhurt; his house, on the other hand, was partly destroyed by what seemed like the shots of a cannon. He could not blame the Autobot as his sensors must have been thoroughly scrambled by that burst of energy. The Bot was probably blind and it was a miracle that he did not shot a human in the process.

When Barricade realized that Sam was not taking his guardian with him, he cursed the whole Autobot lot, their stupidity and their carelessness. He felt it was good he was going with him because otherwise he would not have a single Cybertronian around. Maybe he was not the peace loving Autobot but he could not deny it - even while he could not understand it - he did not want the boy hurt in any way.

Barricade followed Sam as he drove with his parents to his college. It was an insanely long trip and he wondered why the humans decided to not use a plane. The whole way along he monitored the Decepticon's frequencies for any tips of what they might be up to. It was to his surprise when he heard Soundwave's rarely used voice on his comm link:

:Decepticons, we have located the shard:

With those words he panicked. Was it something to do with the boy and the energy the scout read earlier? Within the nanoseconds Barricade formulated about three different workable ways to save Sam, rather, abduct him and hide him in a remote place. Thankfully Soundwave followed the statement with the set of coordinates which were far from their current location.

The scout took a moment to realize he completely overreacted and, if he kept acting that way, he would be so slagged.

They arrived at the college around the noon. Barricade scanned the surroundings as he settled within the lot near Sam's new dorm. Monitoring the boy, the scout realized that the human was annoyed and panicked, but he did not run so it was not a threat to his life. His processor did not spur him into action like earlier.

Barricade did not know what was happening to him. It was like his CPU was changing him into a guardian of the boy. That was strange and unusual but he supposed until he fixed the problem he would have to get used to it.

Barricade attempted to approach Sam the day they arrived on campus. His systems filled with anticipation at the thought of meeting the boy. It seemed to be the only way to check a curious and indiscernible reading he was picking from around the college. Of course, his internal logic routines informed him about the utter stupidity of the idea, he ignored it.

Barricade entered the dimly lit dorm using his holoform - the place was full of lightly toxic smoke and the vapors of alcohol. Sam was about to return so there were only a few minutes to check the location. He realized he was a center of attention: girls were watching him, curiously, and a few boys were giving him long appreciative glances. Yes, he did a great job with his holoform, he was proud of it.

He knew exactly when the boy appeared along with three other males roommates who then left him quickly.

It was his chance; feeling stupidly like a sparkling, he was just about to approach the boy when his sensors wailed with a warning.

He felt an Allspark radiation coming off of Sam - and that strange signal he detected earlier appeared out of nowhere and closed in on Sam.

From such proximity he discerned the readings: a pretender drone. He withdrew his holoform, hiding in the shadows and darkness, watching as a pretty (in human terms) girl approached Sam and aggressively tried to seduce him. The boy was both aroused and scared.

The pretender drone acted human, more or less, its orders probably included a directive about not killing Sam in front of other humans.

But why was Sam giving away an Allspark radiation?

Shortly after that question registered in his CPU there was another incoming signal and Barricade was most happy to see it.

The yellow glitch head was close so Sam was going to be safe.

It appeared however that Bumblebee was luckier than Barricade expected because the pretender drone did not recognize him as a Cybertronian in disguise.

The Camaro drove away with Sam and the pretender inside; he followed them until the drone left Bumblebee, dripping with processed lubricant, maybe the Bumble bot was not so hopeless after all.

When Sam drove away with his Autobot guardian, Barricade decided he was not need anymore, and drove back to his parking spot where he recharged.

The next day Barricade was shaken out of recharge by the alarm of an Allspark radiation. When he searched he noticed it came from Sam; it was light, just slightly above any detectable level, yet Barricade's sensors felt it. It was active only about 90 earth seconds but it was there. And then he checked his logs that accumulated while he slept: Megatron was revived.

'Stupid Starscream... An idiot who was going to destroy everything.'

Barricade stalked Sam after that; his holoform present always nearby the boy; his sensors trying to discern any change in energy signatures around or inside his body.

He cursed Sam's stupidity when the human called his girlfriend, not securing the line, not being careful about what he said.

The boy talked about his grandfather, and the symbols in his head, and the fucking damn cube - a splinter of it! A splinter of the cube - could there be another? The Decepticons could not be allowed to learn of it. And did the boy really leave it with his girlfriend instead of giving it to the bots?

That was so stupid he considered leaving the boy to his own devices. If he was that brainless, Barricade just was not powerful enough to shield him. But then his glitched programming told him, again and again, to protect the boy.

The whole thing was getting annoying because he started to associate his state of mind with a human illness called schizophrenia - he was short of arguing with himself.

Sam's heart rate spiked as he panicked over the phone. Something must have happened. The scout wished he could be hearing the crosstalk. Sam ran; Barricade stayed in place, his sensor following the boy closely, while the Allspark radiation resurfaced and grew stronger with every passing minute.

He needed to do something to prevent the pretender drone to catch it.

But what?

A slew of other signals caught him by surprise. There were multiple Decepticon signals gathering. He upped the sensitivity of his sensors to better pinpoint the signals and found the Autobots nearby. The sides were encircling each other. And the Allspark radiation was still present.

Barricade parked under Sam's window. If anything was going to happen then he wanted to be close. He was driven mad by the urge to protect the boy.

It was good he was a scout because he possessed the skill to track not only the pretender drone but also the Decepticons and the Autobots alike while keeping an eye on Sam. The boy scurried around his room nervously, heart rate almost on the verge of too strong and too fast for a normal human being.

It was a bit later that the afternoon when the pretender finally made its move. The drone approached Sam directly inside the boy's room. Barricade was not the one who panicked, though, there was another human nearby and the Decepticon was not programmed to act with a witness nearby.

How he wished Frenzy was with him right then and there.

The Autobots were getting close but so were the Decepticons. Barricade activated his holoform; he wanted to reach the boy and to slag the threat. And then he felt two signatures he did not expect: a cassette-size mech followed by Sam's girlfriend. He realized he could not move, he stood frozen, hearing his processor screaming at him to protect the boy.

Sam's heart rate heightened and, surprisingly, his pheromones level raised. Barricade did not know what was happening inside that room. The only fact he knew with certainty was that Mikaela reached Sam and immediately the pit exploded.

He traced everything that followed through his sensors because his body would not cooperate....

Sam was loosing the ability to breathe and then he was running along with Mikaela and his roommate. The scout's CPU screamed and wailed but his body was acted as if his movement had been disconnected in the middle of a radical medical procedure. He heard screams and explosions - they were so close - yet he could not act.

What was wrong with him? What was happening with his programming?

The humans remained alive and it amazed him to no end how such a fragile little race defended itself so easily. He cursed, though, as he felt a Decepticon signal nearby. How could he have missed it? It was airborne but too slow to be a seeker.

The worst part was that it was zeroing in on Sam which was currently in some car driven by his crazy girlfriend Mikaela. Barricade struggled with himself, again, as he felt so useless, so helpless. He was out of control. He could not help Sam or protect Sam. Fear gripped his core as he lost control of the situation. He could not act, could not protect either the boy or himself.

The runners drove away leaving him alone with his problems. The pretender drone's signal crashed and got lost when it met with Sam's signature. His sensors informed him when the Decepticon flier zeroed in on Sam, and, apparently took his boy away and there was no way at that point that he could be saved.

Barricade had no idea what was happening where Sam was taken - his long range sensors were not as detailed as his close range distance.

He remained glued to the spot even though his processor informed him that his body was functional again.

Autobots were close so Sam had to be safe. He tried to convince himself that it was true. He waited, noting as time passed, the lost signal of a Decepticon and then with aching spark a lost signal of Optimus Prime.

They were doomed and he was glitched and Sam was probably as good as dead already....

What was happening with him? His procedures were contradicting. His circuitry must have been frayed somewhere. His self repair nodes just could not fix all of it.

When Barricade received the Fallen's world wide-demand to turn on Sam at last he knew the boy was not yet dead. He started to panic, though, as it happened again. Again - something was blocking him, something within his systems - he could not move.

The boy was alive; that was what counted. He felt him traveling getting closer and closer. He sensed Autobots with him and then, shortly after he sensed another burst of the Allspark energy, there was a very old Cybertronian signature and everything was gone. Decepticons, Autobots, humans.... He felt blind and deaf and stripped off all of his senses.

The Decepticons moved into the continent called Africa. Soundwave gave the location where they sighted the boy. How was is possible that Sam got to the Africa so fast? Soundwave was tracking the events as they unfolded - then, all of a sudden, he stopped and thereafter Barricade did not know what was happening.

The scout waited patiently for information to trickle through his comm-link again. Meanwhile he worked on his pit forsaken glitch. The glitch that made him protect Sam was still unknown but after days and nights of running scans line over line throughout his programming he found a command that referred to a heavily encrypted and guarded file stored within his deep memory core. The command seemed to be external, inserted randomly, and the file was inaccessible; neither could be deleted.

It was way beyond his ability to self repair - he needed to seek help as soon as possible.


	3. Chapter 3

I'm sorry, I'm sorry I'm sorry! My dear readers, it took me ages to post another part because of RL. I was changing jobs, curing myself and my family and generaly suffering from lack of time. It can be some time untill i'll be able to post anoher part of anything so please forgive me.

Thank you for all comments, favourites and allerts. You make my writing seem worthwile :*

* * *

When Sam returned, Barricade felt with amazing clarity that the boy had been changed, he had been altered. His signature was radiating a constant Cybertronian energy, although he stayed human. And there was something about his presence that 'Cade couldn't help but feel respect for.

All of that slowly faded as the days went by but it didn't completely disappear. He sensed, almost palpably, that the boy was grown and matured. He wondered about what happened to that young human while in Africa.

The ex-Decepticon realized that while Starscream, Megatron, and Soundwave were still alive – and hiding - it was very improbable that they would be attacking anytime soon. Anyway, he didn't want to waste his time. He wanted to meet Sam in person again only this time without raging hatred and thirsting blood.

He wanted to know how the boy smelled while not afraid. He wanted to know what gave that tiny fleshy creature such strength. His logic didn't allow him to do it, though, it was unwise and possibly deadly to approach without any care. He had no idea what possessed him only days earlier to meet Sam, especially when humans had a perfect substitution for face to face contact, the Internet and its various instant messengers.

The anonymity of the Internet and its accessibility - it was the perfect vehicle with which to approach the boy!

The scout traced the human's ID easily; it was a wonder that nobody bothered to change his e-bay page, but, his guardians were Autobots, so bouts of stupidity might be expected.

Back when 'Cade was stalking Sam, after the battle for the Allspark, he found the time to take advantage of the fact he was virtually a walking computer. He installed a few programs into his memory; it was easy, painless and enlightening and so Barricade ended up with multiple e-mail clients, messengers, browsers, along with pop-up blockers – a necessity as his own internal programming was unable to block them - annoying little things being like, he compared it now, insect-bites against his core.

He onlined and waited. It wasn't hard catching the human; it was, however, hard to talk with the boy as he was quite resistant to a stranger trying to contact and chatting with him. He knew he was being stubborn and illogical but he simply wanted to know the boy and the human just ignored him. The scout was determined to find a way to contact Sam.

Eventually, shortly after one of the visits Mikaela paid Sam, 'Cade registered a move: the human entered an on-line dating site and refreshed his profile. The mech registered too as 'Robert' and entered completely random information about himself except interests: he matched those with Sam's since it was important to show something in common to lower any possible suspicion.

Sam listed comics as an interest and Barricade swiftly referenced it with the World Wide Web. He found most of the titles downloadable so he read them. He couldn't understand what humans got out of reading pictures with captions but it was a good way to start talking with the boy. The mech swallowed his pride and it paid off.

They talked, first via email then through IM, and Barricade slowly realized that Sam wasn't anything but ordinary. However, he looked at what the boy wrote through every possible point of view, as if to decode a secret. But the boy said nothing that indicated he possessed superpowers, extraordinary courage or strength, or anything like that.

'Cade tried to start a talk about how nice it would be to have superpowers. He saw billions of such discussions at websites and forums but Sam was less than thrilled about it. Instead the human talked about responsibilities and consequences, words that Barricade wouldn't have considered.

Being a Decepticon, there was nothing to be responsible about, Megatron gave orders and soldiers complied. There was another difficult word that he usually ignored - consequences – although it was something that eventually was going to catch up to him. Barricade was reminded of that when Sam wrote the word.

Maybe the boy was a bit wiser after all?

Then, in the middle of a chat, Sam asked a question that surprised Barricade.

womanizer8616: Listen, we met on a dating site, so it makes me wonder if you're trying to pick me up or something.

badass_cop13: ?

womanizer8616: Well, sorry...I'm just curious...

badass_cop13: I only want to know you.

womanizer8616: To know me? O_o

badass_cop13: Yes, what kind of person you are, how you think.

womanizer8616: LOL! You are strange :P

badass_cop13: You are not far from the truth.

womanizer8616: But you're not gay, right? You're straight?

badass_cop13: ?

womanizer8616: Seriously.... - - You dig guys or chicks?

Barricade couldn't respond without referencing the terms with the aid of a few on-line dictionaries. Sam was asking about his sexuality and it was such an alien concept to him that he responded without thinking.

badass_cop13: I do not know.

It was just like that, the reply, because to a robot without male or female sex it was impossible to understand the attraction between people - to a mech the pleasure of 'sex' was attainable with any other mech.

womanizer8616: How don't you know?

Maybe he was giving too much away....

badass_cop13: I did not consider it but does it matter who you are attracted to? You are attracted or not attracted. Period.

womanizer8616: ...Right. Anyway, considering you're not attracted to me (if I understand correctly) want to meet some time?

badass_cop13: NO!

Barricade cut the connection immediately, panicked, while his processor almost overloaded with questions.

_Did he realize it? Did he know he was alien? Why did he suddenly want to meet?_

Without realizing exactly how, the conversation derailed, it was bad and he needed to control himself.

He considered coming back online to keep talking but his logic advised him that in such situations with humans it was better to wait. Yes, wait, he needed to work on his impulses. Living amongst humans made him so much more prone to illogical, impulsive behavior.

Megatron was coded with paranoia built into his programming. Barricade, though, was usually a steady and cool-headed mech. Level-headed. And no human was going to destroy it; not even the one who killed Megatron.

Calming his processes, the scout thought about the boy and what he learned – and what he didn't know yet – about him. Barricade wanted to know what happened when Sam was off to Africa. Unless he kept talking, he wouldn't be able to learn anything about that, especially about the peculiar change of his signature.

The next day Sam's guardian Bumblebee arrived and together they left the range of Barricade's sensors; as long as Sam was with his yellow autobot guardian he would be safe.

For the next several days Barricade tried to get a hold of Sam online but the boy just wasn't there. It might have been something to do with the fact he was away from college. Barricade couldn't deny he was curious about where the human was but there was no way to know unless he kept talking and maybe someday Sam would be able to tell him everything.

When the boy finally got online again, he acted as if nothing happened, the topic of meeting didn't resurface immediately. Instead, they talked like earlier, about what humans thought were insubstantial things. Barricade felt his fear of being discovered dissipate little by little after their talks. Sam didn't suspect anything.

It was like that until one evening when Sam started the chat with a few choice words of the filthiest vocabulary Barricade knew.

womanizer8616: (*^%&^&^#*&^ fucking whore!

badass_cop13: Your girlfriend?

womanizer8616: It's scary that you know who I'm talking about.

badass_cop13: What happened?

womanizer8616: She broke up with me...AGAIN!

badass_cop13: Why do you allow her to treat you like that?

womanizer8616: I don't know... she's pretty....

badass_cop13: ...

womanizer8616: And good in bed....

badass_cop13: ...

womanizer8616: Alright…she's INTERESTED!

badass_cop13: You are pathetic.

womanizer8616: Wow, thanks for enlightening me! Believe me I KNOW.

A pause followed; Barricade waited until Sam was ready to say more because Sam should have more to say about it. And Sam did say something but not exactly what the Cybertronian expected.

womanizer8616: I'd give anything to be able to talk with you face to face. Get drunk and forget. I know you are a complete NO to meeting but...I don't understand it!

Barricade thought about it. The boy didn't suspect anything, he knew that now, so why was he against meeting? Really. Why? Obviously it needed a bit of trust and he didn't trust the boy yet. Not enough at least to be sure he didn't bring any Autobot with him. If the boy realized THEN that he was Decepticon, even ex-Decepticon, that would be the end.

But maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to let the boy know something now. He was impossible to pinpoint except via Internet. He made sure of that.

badass_cop13: I am not exactly who you think I am.

Yes - let the boy figure it out for himself. If he got something wrong Barricade wouldn't have to lie to him; not that he was against lying; it was just funnier this way as humans tended to come to conclusions easily and act on it.

womanizer8616: You're a student at the college I....

badass_cop13: Really... no.

womanizer8616: Liar! OK, but then you are from here, right?

badass_cop13: ...

womanizer8616: Oh, yeah, I need to figure that out myself. Now you got my interest and you are not going to get yourself out of it easy. I can play your game.

badass_cop13: You can try.

Barricade was smug; it was going to be fun.

womanizer8616: If you're not a student, and you didn't tell me, you might be afraid that I'll react badly or that you'll run into problems.

badass_cop13: ...

womanizer8616: Okay, so that makes you one of my professors! It fits both explanations, actually, but then you'd either be stupid or oblivious.

badass_cop13: Insulting me is not going to take you anywhere else than to your grave.

womanizer8616: Bingo! You aren't my professors, you wouldn't threaten me like that!

badass_cop13: Your reasoning is pathetic.

womanizer8616: But it works :P Now... let me think who could be against meeting face to face, threatening me for insulting you, insulting me himself and does not use emoticons...

_Does not use emoticons? What the pit was wrong with that? Those stupid little pictures hat supposedly expressed emotions - illogical and useless human crap!_

womanizer8616: Oh fucking hell. You are one of THEM!

badass_cop13: That would be what?

womanizer8616: Are you ALIEN?

_What a stupid thing to ask!_ Barricade groaned, though taking into consideration that it was asked via internet, it might be considered a joke if Sam was speaking to another human.

badass_cop13: I might be.

womanizer8616: Shit! That's rich! Okay, is prime your leader?

_Prime... written with small cases...crafty. Let's help him with that._

badass_cop13: Primus forbid.

womanizer8616: Okay... now that made things easier, you are Decepticon.

Barricade groaned.

badass_cop13: As a guy, so deep into Cybertronian affairs on earth, you are really ignorant. Not every mech has to be either a slagging stupid Autobot or good for nothing crazed Decepticon. I'm NEUTRAL, Sam.

_Annoying, annoying, annoying, and helpful._

womanizer8616: That's a relief! And I'm sorry. To me it seems like there's constant fights between the good ones and the bad ones. Why didn't you tell Optimus that you arrived?

_Did the boy misspell that?_

badass_cop13: Optimus? As Optimus Prime?

womanizer8616: Well, yes... why?

badass_cop13: Was he not offlined?

Sam paused and didn't write, probably thinking about what to say.

womanizer8616: He was...but he was brought back.

Just like Megatron. Brought back.

badass_cop13: With the shard.

womanizer8616: You seem to know an awful lot and you don't know about Optimus? Just who are you?

The boy was getting suspicious; Barricade needed to offer up a bit of information to fix that.

badass_cop13: I mostly know what happened in North America. I do not know what happened in Africa.

womanizer8616: Oh! Okay. So you can't be the bad one... But I still don't understand why you don't want to meet with the others.

badass_cop13: I am not a mech who would be welcomed with open arms.

womanizer8616: Why won't you meet with me?

badass_cop13: You are either stupid or reckless.

womanizer8616: I prefer brave and trusting.

badass_cop13: It does not rule out the first two possibilities. If I were a Decepticon, I could be using the occasion to get you and kill you.

womanizer8616: Are you?

badass_cop13: Whatever I say it does not really matter because I could always be lying.

womanizer8616: Oh, please, like you wouldn't jump the first possible occasion if you were a Decepticon!

badass_cop13: You are way too trusting.

womanizer8616: Okay... add to that pathetic, stupid, ignorant, and I should be so disconnecting right now. Ok, now I know the reason I can stop pushing to meet you… for now, anyway, but maybe you can tell me something about yourself.

Sam was amusing with rather sharp wits and, even though there were bouts of stupidity and annoyance included, Barricade found himself enjoying their talks especially now that they both knew about each other. They shared inconsequential information. Sam was careful of what he told Barricade. Barricade kept Sam interested through equally trivial information about himself.

Even though Barricade insisted that they shouldn't meet, he wasn't completely against the idea, he just wanted the boy to be unaware of their meeting. He searched for a place where their paths could have crossed. And it presented itself shortly after.


	4. Chapter 4

Okay, so I try to write whenever I find even a little bit of time and so you have another chappy already :D. Big thanks goes to my beta – Abraxas who is patiently checking anything I write and correcting my countless mistakes.

Enjoy this chapter :D

* * *

"Hey, you, smartass!"

Sam flinched at the words but remained calm.

"I think last time you asked me to park a foot in your ass."

The teen and his buddy laughed ugly while Barricade grinned evilly – the ex-Decepticon emerged out of the shadows smiling viciously.

Sam stared at the figure wide-eyed.

_Oh, yes,_ he thought. His holoform was eye-catching for sure. His body was tall, slim and well-built. His face possessed what humans called a bad-boy look. When last he used his holoform, he was an object of giggles and females regarded him as handsome and pretty. Not that Barricade was vain, not at all, but what was wrong with looking good both as holoform and as alt-form?

"And I heard you like to get a cock parked in yours," he threw offhandedly to the teen who obviously wanted to assault Sam.

"You…." The teen sputtered while his cohort turned to see the figure.

Barricade noticed the chuckle coming from Sam as well as the fist coming his way; he dodged that hit and landed his own body blow easily.

"I'm not that much into fisting, sorry," he stated, calmly, and stuck out his leg to trip that other boy who tried to fight with him. "But I see your pal here is," he added and looked at Sam. "I think they want to be alone…let's go."

Sam looked at the figure, his eyes glinting with amusement, wondering who it could be. He chuckled while ignoring the angry shouts from the boys on the ground. "Sure, why not?"

"Nice," Sam said after a few steps away from, he turned and looked at Barricade unsurely.

"Barry," the ex-Decepticon said, assuming that stare was a question about his name.

"Sam," the boy replied, extending a hand.

Barricade, after eyeing it curiously, took the hint and shook it – only to jump away with a feeling of being zapped.

Sam cried out in surprise; Barricade only hissed.

"Well, that was awkward," he laughed, "thanks for the help."

They walked through the path with Barricade's alt-form following his holoform.

"No problem, really," he dismissed the thanks with a wave he saw humans do in such situations. As his alt-form neared, Barricade scanned Sam, and saw the boy shiver then look about. "Something wrong?" he asked politely. _Did he feel the scan_, he wondered.

"No, I mean yes, er, it was just a really creepy feeling like a ghost running through me." He laughed nervously when he looked at the reaction of the holoform. "Don't mind me, I'm a geek, anyway, see you later?"

The boy pronounced those last words like a question and 'Cade nodded in confirmation. If he had anything to say about it, Sam was going to see him and often. Not enough to be suspicious but enough to make it seem more than coincidence.

"You need a ride anywhere?"

"Oh, no, thanks, I've got a ride of my own just around the corner."

Barricade was sure he knew what Sam was talking about – the yellow bot with racing stripes.

"Oh, okay, so see you."

Sam waved to 'Cade's holoform then ran down the hill and turned by the corner, vanishing behind a building nearby.

Barricade watched curiously as long as possible. When the boy disappeared, he continued to track his movements through his sensors. He stopped when the Autobot appeared as a blue dot beside's Sam's dot on his radar. The two dots joined and then drove away.

He looked at his hand; the electricity, a mere static spark jumping between them, it was nothing important to Sam but it was different to Barricade.

"Strange." He walked toward his alt-form and vanished. "Worth investigating further."

***

When later that day Sam appeared on IM, Barricade couldn't help the anxiety in his spark. He wouldn't admit that to anyone, even to himself, but he hoped Sam would be talking about meeting 'Barry'. It was illogical.

womanizer8616: Hi, how are you?

badass_cop13: My systems are running on 100%

womanizer8616: Hm, that's good, right? There was a situation today…. I came across these dimwitted jocks who wanted to reformat my face and, well, I feel stupid.

_Feel or are? _Barricade knew he was just being nasty so he settled on the question marks.

badass_cop13: ??

womanizer8616: I killed Megatron, I got soldier and alien friends, I fought with the special ops, kind of, and I'm afraid of a dumb school bully.

_Afraid._ The delicious smell of that human fear. Barricade remembered it. The rush of Energon to his head, the thrill of the hunt…but he couldn't think about it now. That was the past. He wasn't a Decepticon anymore.

badass_cop13: Living beings are driven by either fear or other urges.

It was so hard to forget that intoxicating feeling of control, though, he wanted to feel it again; he had been a hunter and enjoyed his work.

womanizer8616: And you? What makes you do things you do?

The question snapped 'Cade out of his reverie.

badass_cop13: Programming. Something you call self-preservation. And instinct and logic.

womanizer8616: So fear too?

badass_cop13: No, fear can be blocked.

It was a stupid thing to do. Only blocking one's pain-receptors was an even more stupid thing to do. To block fear…it made you much more prone to accidents and suicidal behaviors…but it made the thinking and acting a lot less prone to faulty logic.

womanizer8616: Do you feel fear?

badass_cop13: No, I cannot, not anymore.

Barricade turned off his fear long time ago. Back when he was starting his carrier in the Decepticon army. He realized it was the only way he could be a better soldier. Back then it was his cold, fearless logic that made him valuable enough to Megatron that he advanced up to 'commander' from a lowly shock trooper.

womanizer8616: How do you know if something's dangerous then?

badass_cop13: Logic is enough.

womanizer8616: Oh.... Strange. O_o

badass_cop13: I find you, humans, strange. Your emotions defy your logic quite often. Like jumping off a building….

womanizer8616: Yeah, tell me about it. *snorts*

badass_cop13: Why did you do it?

He finally asked the question that nagged for the longest time.

womanizer8616: I'm not sure; actually, it was kind of that I thought my life was less important than the cube. But it didn't do me any good. Megs is still alive and kicking. Again. - -

badass_cop13: Megs?

womanizer8616: Oh, Megatron... it's too long and with a nickname like that he seems a lot less deadly.

_What a stupid nickname._

badass_cop13: He will kill you instantly if he hears this!

womanizer8616: LOL been there, done that, he's trying to get me even without hearing that. Still against meeting with me?

_Oh, we met already_, Barricade thought and smiled to himself.

badass_cop13: Yes.

womanizer8616: You could at least tell me what is your alt-form?

badass_cop13: No.

womanizer8616: Right, got to go, exam tomorrow.

badass_cop13: I know.

womanizer8616: Anything you don't know?

badass_cop13: I assure you I am not all-knowing.

womanizer8616: Right... Good night.

badass_cop13: Good night.

***

Barricade tried to get into recharge mode that night but he couldn't. His CPU was rebooting itself as soon as the recharge cycle started. A system check reported a glitch in his holoform projector, which, after a scan of its coding, he managed to fix. Finally, he slipped into the equivalent of sleep.

The meeting with the boy left him intrigued and wanting more face-to-face talk. He couldn't stop himself from following the human to his exam. He tried to look as inconspicuous as possible as he stepped out of the building where the exams were held.

"Hello, Sam."

"Hmmm..." Sam yawned and rubbed his eyes. "Oh, hi!" The boy blinked and remembered: "Barry, right?"

"Yes." Barricade smiled lightly. Enough to show his good mood but not enough to appear happy that the boy remembered him. "Math exam?"

"Yeah," Sam laughed nervously. "Can't help being terrified."

"Why?" Barricade was curious. Sam already told him about his problems with mathematics but that was something 'Barry' shouldn't know about.

"Oh, please, like you don't know! No one passed that exam at first attempt."

The whole time they talked the human seemed relaxed yet anxious – humans and their contradictory emotions.

"I did." He would have if he tried.

"Right...." Sam looked doubtful.

"I could help you."

"Really? That would be great, thanks."

"It's not a problem." There was nothing else to do anyway.

They exchanged numbers; of course, Barricade knew Sam's number already after all of that surveillance but needed to pretend otherwise.

***

Later that evening Barricade got the call.

"I failed."

Barricade groaned inside. _Surprise, surprise_. "It's only a test."

"I feel like I failed at life."

"If you're free and want to dabble a little into the subject, I'm willing to come over and kick everything into your thick skull." Oh, Barricade liked the sound of that sentence.

"Well, if you put it that way," Sam laughed.

"I'll be there in twenty," Barricade said and hung up.

He could have been at Sam's in five minutes but that would have been suspicious. It would have seemed strange, too, to show up exactly twenty minutes after the call. So he waited about twenty-five minutes before knocking on Sam's door.

Once again Barricade's holoform reacted with an electric discharge at the contact with Sam.

And then they dived into the intricacies of higher mathematics; it was obvious to Barricade yet inconceivable to Sam. The mech thought it was a very pleasant evening. The boy…it felt good to spend time with the boy…so much so, that he looked forward to another meeting like that.

It had been a very long time since he last enjoyed the company of another. It was with Soundwave and it was before the war. He felt his spark flutter warmly at the thought of his old friend somewhere in orbit who must have been thinking he was off-lined. He considered revealing himself to 'Wave but it was still too dangerous and his logic was adamant about it – no contact yet.

Sam held something inside of him and up close he was radiating an aura of command; Barricade felt compelled to do anything he asked.

The hunter fought it. He hated not being in control, but the aura wasn't particularly offensive, it was just asking him to obey; It was rather a permeating feeling of respect. Which felt familiar, but Barricade couldn't place a finger on it.


End file.
